


Catch a Falling Bird

by ilyena_sylph, Merfilly



Category: DCU - Comicverse
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Legacy Heroes, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-12-31
Updated: 2006-12-31
Packaged: 2017-12-06 14:58:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/736982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ilyena_sylph/pseuds/ilyena_sylph, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dinah's trying to close an old case of her parents, and Batman gets pulled into it...and her life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Catch a Falling Bird

“Batman, the Canary needs your help!” Oracle’s voice was laced with urgency. “Alley behind Carter’s Pawn on Burke.”

The cowled crusader knew the woman would not have requested back up for her operative unless it were truly urgent and no one else was close enough to get there. As it was, he was within three blocks of it, already on his way back to the cave.

“I’m on it,” he assured his dispatcher, lightly turning the wheel to catch the cut through alley he needed.

`~`~`~`~`

Watching Canary fight from the rooftop he had taken, Batman almost asked Oracle why she had called him. Granted, the numbers were stacked against the blonde, but they were run of the mill gang members. After three maneuvers by her in which she only threw kicks, he narrowed his eyes to see the sleeve of her jacket on her left arm was darker than it should have been.

“She’s shot,” Batman reported, scanning the roof around the fight. He saw the glint of the scope and reacted before he had even fully processed the barrel of a sniper rifle. His batarang took care of the immediate threat and let him swoop to the sniper’s position.

“She did not say that,” Oracle’s voice came back ominously. “But her ability to relay the details is sketchy at best.”

“I warned you she did not have the same kind of discipline we do,” Batman told his informant, securing the sniper. Unfortunately this had involved unconsciousness on the sniper’s part, so no immediate answers were to be had.

“Yes, I know.” Oracle’s voice was flat and emotionless. “How is she?”

Batman secured a line to come down into the battlefield, where the woman in question had been holding her own even with a shoulder wound. Batman’s arrival to the fight made the others start to scatter, an effort both vigilantes immediately ended in a hail of batarangs and a short, directed Canary Cry. While Batman secured the gang members, Black Canary went directly over to a body half hidden by cardboard and newspapers, checking for a pulse. Batman frowned as he joined her, seeing the frustration in her eyes.

“Thanks, Batman,” she said, but it was so absent, he looked her over for signs of shock. What surprised him was to find the tough little fighter was actually wiping a tear from her eye.

“Friend?” he asked, remembering that she was local.

“No. Last solid lead,” Canary said with savage bitterness. Batman looked at the body, noted the entry wound of a bullet, very well placed. He filed everything he saw in the alley away, without touching. He could hear the police coming, and looked back at the blonde. “Go, Bats; I’ve got to talk to the boys in blue. This man is dead because of me, after all.”

`~`~`~`~`

“Oracle, report.” Batman had left ahead of the police, letting Black Canary stand on her own two feet. He had been careful since her return to Gotham to not let the media see her as being in his ‘family’. Even though she reluctantly trained Spoiler, there was very little to connect her back to his operatives.

“She’s giving her statement…Dad is waiting for her to be through, and has already offered her a ride home.” Oracle sounded puzzled by that. “I did not realize Dad knew her.”

“Her father and yours were partners, a long time ago.” Batman pulled up the various databases he needed. He entered descriptions of the sniper, the gang members, and the dead man, patiently sifting through it all until he could find a match. While he did this, Oracle filled him in on Canary.

Over the months that Black Canary had been active for Oracle, she had been pursuing an investigation of her own. Oracle only had peripheral details, as Canary only worked the case when she was not actively patrolling for Oracle, or away on missions. Twice, Canary had refused to leave Gotham, with an excuse of one kind or other, for a short time period. In hindsight, Oracle surmised that there must have been time-critical leads in whatever it was that occupied the woman’s free time.

Batman kept that in the back of his mind as he sorted through the clues at hand, ignoring sleep for the first part of the morning. When Oracle alerted him that her father was taking Canary home, Batman grunted at her.

“Don’t be a cave man, Bruce. We’ll probably have some answers as soon as they get there.” Oracle was amused, though very tired.

“Spying on your partner?” Batman asked, but he did pause long enough to look up at her screen, to see she had turned her camera on, instead of the green mask.

“As much as I do you, old man,” she teased lightly. “She’s got a talent for trouble, which is why I happened to be listening tonight.”

“Hmm.” He glanced at another screen when it came to life, showing an apartment with a strong floral presence and the woman of the hour walking inside.

`~`~`~`~`

Commissioner Jim Gordon looked around the small apartment approvingly. “I see you have your mother’s touch with flowers,” he commented.

“It’s a hobby.” She set about making coffee for them. “I appreciate the ride home. I couldn’t have handled my bike like this.” She pointed to her sling bound arm.

“So, you said you were patrolling when you got pulled into the mess in that alley,” Jim began. “What’s the real story, Dinah?”

“I knew there was a motive for you sticking around beyond my ride home,” she said with a sigh, but he could tell she did want to talk about it, and he was just the one she needed to unburden this to.

“You could not be Larry’s daughter and not have a talent for finding trouble,” he said, fondly remembering the man.

“Thanks, Commissioner.” She sat down after the pot was brewing. “Do you remember the Van Allen case?” At Jim’s hissing intake of breath, she nodded sadly. “One of Dad’s few unsolveds. And I picked up a trail, completely by accident, just after I moved back. I was sorting through his old files, and a few things fell into place that made me start poking around.”

“You think you can solve it?” Jim asked. “I can’t spare any men for such a cold case, but I would like to see that one solved for once and all.”

`~`~`~`~`

Batman leaned back again as soon as the name was mentioned, typing it into a database to recover all known details. He was, of course, familiar with the case that had happened shortly before his parents’ murder and been the talk of Gotham press until his own tragedy came to pass.

“The Van Allen case was a murder/kidnapping from….” Oracle let her voice trail off, seeing the date on the case.

“That same year,” he gruffly said. “One of Lance’s last cases, as he retired just after that to open his investigation practice.” His fingers flew over a keyboard, adding the name of the case to the rest of his information.

“Dinah would have been about two; why?”

“This is not the first time she has taken on a case of her father’s. She honors her mother by being the Canary; she solves his cases to honor him,” Batman said, with a note of grudging admiration for the blonde’s tenacity in living up to her parents’ legacies. “She would have been a force to be reckoned with had she chosen his line of work.”

“She is a force to be reckoned with. She knew Gotham’s PD would never accept a meta.” The information queen had discussed their attempts to follow in their fathers’ footsteps.

“There will come a day when that will be a plus,” Batman said, not in favor of it, but resigned to the growing population of metas.

“Dad’s discussing the murder with her now. She admits she was there because the John Doe…. no, she called him Roger Matheson.”

Batman nodded, checking off an invisible list of possibilities. “The grounds man at the Van Allen’s at the time of the crime. He was heavily questioned, but nothing could be matched up between him and the two suspects later killed in a confrontation with the police.”

“So, what do we do for Canary now? Getting shot would have made it personal.”

“I will see what I can pull up today. She said Matheson was her last solid lead.” Batman sat back, reviewing how long the woman had been in his town again. “If she’s been working this for so many months, perhaps she can’t see an angle I might.”

“Want me to reroute patrols for a night or two?” Oracle offered. She did not need her operative distracted by what was apparently a still deadly case.

“Let Spoiler patrol alone, near the East End. Selina’s not likely to let her come to much harm over there.” Batman knew his allies, and his nemeses very well. “That will let the routes be spread out on Robin and Batgirl more evenly.”

“Can do. And Bruce…get some sleep. Canary moves fast and hard too.”

“I know, Barbara. I worked with her often enough in the past.” Despite his fatigue, he quirked a smile up at the redhead’s screen. He was able to relax his brooding in the face of a mystery, the prospect of working with a hero he respected, and the fact he was safely in his Cave. “You sleep too, Barbara.”

`~`~`~`~`

Black Canary had only just signed off from Oracle for the night, finding out that she had a full week before the redhead anticipated needing her again. She still was not perfectly sure of her new status, knowing who the mystery source of the hero community’s information was. It left her disoriented at times, as she often felt on learning a comrade’s civilian identity.

“You’ll need a ride to keep pursing your case.” The deep voice came from her fire escape window, and startled her into whirling into a combat ready stance. She took in that it was Batman, registered the familiar jawline and forced herself to relax.

“So you’re here why?” she asked, her chin sticking out belligerently. 

“When a professional sniper is hired to kill a hero and the person they want to speak to, I take an interest.” He indicated she should come to him, already having a jumpline secured to get her to the ground.

“Maybe I decided not to pursue the case,” she said, weakly lifting the injured arm.

“I know better, Canary.” At his firm tone, she smiled.

“Alright, your help is accepted. But this is my case.” She let him take her by the waist, looping her good arm around his neck. He leaped out, carrying her neatly to the ground, and then leading her to his batmobile.

“We don’t do personal in Gotham.” When she laughed at that, he regarded her sternly.

“Stop buying into your hype, Bats. You don’t intimidate me, never have.” She slid into the car, appreciating its high tech feel. “But, personal and you go hand in hand.”

“I don’t follow.” He would let her talk; he knew it was her personal crutch in this business, the ability to chatter about anything and still process needed details.

“I long ago figured out that whatever made you put that costume on, to take on your cause so fiercely was deeply personal.” She looked at him as he revved the car to speed, so that she was not distracted by the feel of it. “It’s why you’ve always been better at it than any of them. Arrow, Lantern, even Barry…none of them were as driven as you.”

He glanced her way, honestly surprised by the compliment and deduction. “Maybe. Doesn’t change the fact that I’m with you on this case to its end.”

“So where are we going?” Dinah glanced out to see they were headed toward the rough parts of Gotham.

“The sniper gave up the name of who hired him, but also the fact this person was a middleman. We start there.” He took a turn hard, noting the peculiar way her body flowed with every motion of the car. She had always had a thing for speed, he remembered.

“Sounds great.”

`~`~`~`~`

Batman would later recall the incident in perfect detail. They had arrived at a hole-in-the-wall bar, and the blonde had gone to the nondescript front door. Batman had taken the almost invisible back door, which opened on an alley of prostitutes and addicts. Panic had apparently broken out inside, as the patrons opted to leave hastily, almost all of them filing past Canary to use the front door. The few who came out the back were watched closely until a very large man came out with less panic and more cunning as to which way to go. This one slammed to the ground as a batarang shot out, spreading into a net that fully encompassed the man, delivering an electrical shock. 

A moment later, Black Canary strolled out casually, a saucy grin on her face, and the hair framing it hardly moved from perfect. The only sign she had done more than open her mouth was the faintest spot of red on her shoulder bandage.

“So this is the creep that helped set me up, Batman?” she asked, stalking her prey with a body language that was simply vicious. The Caped Crusader had to stifle a smile; Black Canary as the ‘bad cop’ was a sight he wished he could share right then with Oracle.

Batman crouched by the big man, projecting his menacing image as he did. “Son, I suggest you tell my friend what she wants to hear.” He glanced at the small woman in the manner of someone deciding they had an insane sociopath on their hands, and had to push another smile inward as Canary’s eyes fairly blazed with rage at the man. Their suspect swallowed hard as she took a deep breath and hummed, making an eerie sound that was all build up to the Cry.

“I don’t know much,” the big man quickly said, as Batman smelled the evidence that Canary could be quite convincing. “But I do know…”

`~`~`~`~`

They were back in the Batmobile, with Dinah very quiet as she poured over the facts she had so far.

“Who do you do good cop, bad cop with?” Batman asked, seeing the look in her eyes that she was getting discouraged.

“What? Oh, that. Barry, ages ago. He could never really get Bad Cop down pat, so I’d pull it if Arrow or Lantern weren’t with us.” She smiled nostalgically. “Though Arrow usually had to be good cop too. Hal was too intimidating to be anything but Bad Cop.” He saw the pain in her eyes, lurking there with the harsh knowledge of what had become of her original League. 

“Do you keep up with Aquaman or Manhunter?” Batman asked, turning to take her home. He did not want her dwelling on three dead men when she was trying to decide how to further pursue her case.

“Aquaman, not so much. Manhunter passes word to me now and then from him, but we just move in different circles now. As for Manhunter, I keep Chocos on hand for anytime he wants to drop by. He recently lent me a hand with the younger Society members.”

Batman nodded. “You’re sure that shoulder doesn’t need more tending?” he asked, pulling up behind her apartment complex.

“It’s fine, Batman.” She smiled at him, but her eyes were not happy.

“I think I may have a way to get you into the circles you need to follow up,” he admitted. “A man owes me a favor.”

“Like half of Gotham doesn’t. So what do you suggest?” she asked, ready to get out and go upstairs to sleep.

“Buy a dress.”

`~`~`~`~`

Dinah Lance did not take advice to go shopping lightly. On the advice of Oracle, she had also used a temporary color to go red, while paying close attention to thoughts of who Batman would send to escort her into the upper echelon of Gotham. She found just the right dress, shoes, and handbag for a charity dinner, again prompted by Oracle on the setting of this foray. 

Her doorbell rang at precisely six thirty, and she was ready for anything but the man at the door. Standing in her hallway, wearing a tux that was cut to show off the finest Gotham men had to offer, was Bruce Wayne, billionaire bachelor. She smiled at him, her eyes lit with recognition and warmth.

"Hello." She moved to one side, to let him enter. 

"You must be Miss Drake." Oracle had positively been laughing herself to death over Dinah's chosen secret identity, complaining that it was no more secret than Oliver Queen's. Batman had just been thankful she had played off her own name, rather than the deceased archer.

"Laurel, please. And you are the infamous Bruce Wayne."

Bruce took a moment, savoring the vision in the doorway. He had seen perfection before, having been something of a connoisseur of women all his public life, but Dinah was in that jaw dropping range that defied even his jaded sensibilities to ignore it. A blue sapphire gown draped off one shoulder and falling in clinging curves around her form, set off the deep red of her hair. She had opted for heels tonight, but walked with such grace that their height seemed only to accent her already natural sensuality. A dark blue choker with a sapphire the size of his thumbnail matched the bracelet and earrings she wore. She lifted a matching stole and graciously accepted his quick offer to help wrap it over her shoulders. He noted that she had the lightest dressing possible on her bullet wound, under the draped side of the dress, and he could only see its imprint because he knew to look. She was doing a fair job of remembering to use her other arm more, as well, so no one was likely to notice the weakness in that arm.

"I do appreciate our mutual friend setting this up for us," he said. "I was lacking a date to tonight's event anyway." He gave her a coy grin, one that implied he just could not have gone alone.

"Our friend surprised me with this little blind date," she answered him, accepting the arm he offered her to leave on. "I may be called away, in fact, as I'm on call."

"Oh, he explained that," Bruce immediately said, hiding a smile at her smooth cover act for why she would abandon him. He took her downstairs to the waiting Bentley, appreciating the way she looked it over knowingly. Alfred glanced into the mirror, and stared a second longer than his dates usually received.

"It certainly will not be for lack of appreciation for the company I am in," Dinah said with a musical laugh. Bruce joined it, finding that he was enjoying this night already, in direct violation of his knowing this was a mission like any other. 

They made quiet small talk on the drive, as Bruce dropped the normal society gossip expected of him. She did not seem to be out of her league, matching tidbit for tidbit, and he wondered how much was her knowledge, and how much Oracle was piping to her ear through the dazzling sapphire earrings.

On arrival, she was stared at nearly as much as he was, her picture taken repeatedly as she managed the role of a drape with unconscious ease. Bruce had to wonder where she had learned such refinement, as it did not fit his memory of the saucy woman in any setting he had ever known her in. It would be interesting to see how she carried off gathering the information she was seeking at the party, and he could only hope that she would not do anything that required him to make a quick change.

`~`~`~`~`

The night proved to be full of surprises from that point on. Bruce was at first sure that Oracle was behind Laurel's perfect recall of society facts and trivia, then less convinced as she greeted people by name with such sincerity that they were left wondering when they had met the stunning redhead. Then he noted the choker a little more closely as he leaned past her to speak to an associate and saw it was a very good camera rig, with the 'sapphire' actually a camera lens. He used a witty comment for excuse to laugh; Oracle took good care of this particular vigilante.

Laurel smiled a lot, and managed to look as vapid as most of his dates through the evening. Laurel had spotted her target, a prominent banker with ties back to Van Allen early on, but had done very little to let Bruce know it. That was why he flipped almost completely into Batman mode when she tensed against his arm, her gaze directed at the banker and another man talking. Bruce moved his eyes to the woman's face casually, to see she was bleach white almost.

"Excuse me, Bruce, I think I need the powder room." She smiled enchantingly at him, rising to go. He waited half a minute, made his own excuses to the others and headed to a secluded point where he could observe both the restrooms and the men in question.

"O," he said very low.

"I caught that. She's not speaking to me; she seems to be reacting poorly to whatever you two ate." Oracle sounded sympathetic. "I'm running a match on what the camera pulled."

Bruce studied the man closely, but could not pull out any reason he should have stood out enough to make the Canary react that way.

"Hmm. His name is Jeremy Tilkin, con man from forever ago. Been in and out of prison since he was thirteen until he…." Oracle trailed off.

"Until?" the man growled low.

"Until his last arrest was handled by Officer Lance in such a way as to be called 'bungled' and he evaded custody for the length of his statutes of limitations allowed." Oracle's voice was disbelieving. 

"Known associates?" Bruce pressed, seeing his date heading back to their table.

"Linked to both men suspected in the Van Allen case," Oracle said softly.

"We've got our lead then." Bruce returned to the table then, making a show of relief. "That food sure never sticks with us." He smiled affably at the red head.

"Hmm, no…" She was distracted, her attention wandering from him. "Bruce, it's been good tonight, but I have to go; they paged me in the powder room."

"Oh." He stood up to walk her out, planning to exit at the same time. "Do be careful, Laurel." He kissed her as expected, on the cheek, and she smiled coyly for him and the press before she was gone.

`~`~`~`~`

Batman did wonder just how Black Canary managed the change before he caught up to her. He saw the kit bag laying near by, letting the image of her changing under the night sky float through his mind. He could also see whatever method she used to get to the roof tops had aggravated the shoulder wound.

"Oracle told me you left the party," he said in his non-nonsense tone. "Learn what you needed?"

"Yes." Her voice was tight and controlled to a point to rival his own. "Thank you." She finished stowing the gown and accessories in the bag, and then hid them in a small alcove he recognized as one of Batgirl's old boltholes. 

"Canary, your shoulder," he pointed out. She nodded in a remote manner, and drew the items out to dress it again, moving to the edge of the building to watch. 

"Oracle, find me something on Tilkin," she said firmly. "Please. I know this is not your usual forte, and I don't want to press, but I could say you owe me at least one use of your resources for my own case," she said. She started changing the dressing, using more gauze than needed and the newer, heavy duty plasticized adhesives over the top of it. Batman just watched, waiting for what she was going to do.

"She is very wound up over this, B; please stay with her. I found an address." Oracle spoke softly over the link, which was warning enough. 

"Thanks, Oracle. I'll bring dim sum, next time I swing by your place." That earned a raised eyebrow from the silent bat; he knew Dinah knew Oracle's identity but had not supposed the ladies were that chummy.

Dinah started to move, using the direct approach of jumping from the rooftop to the one below it. Batman gave pursuit, wanting to be close because his nerves were jangling at the way this was playing out, especially at Dinah's intensity.

`~`~`~`~`

That night taught Batman something about himself. No matter how detached he was, no matter how much the mission came first, he was not immune to other people's pain. They reached the apartment that was leased to Tilkin and gave it a thorough searching. While Batman kept his sense out for any sign of return, Dinah rummaged heavily and found a few hiding spots that yielded various sorts of contraband. The Caped Crusader noted how careful she was to place things back just right, hiding her tracks.

"Do you know what you are looking for?" he finally asked, uncomfortable with her silence.

"Something linking him back to Matheson and the banker, or to the Van Allen case more directly," she said. She rummaged one more time, finding a hollow spot in the headboard. Pulling its false face out, she found an envelope that was quite old. Batman happened to look in time to see her hands were shaking, as she opened it. He was a few steps too far away to see what was in the pictures, but her lips got thinner as she looked, until she finally pulled out a slim high res camera and snapped pictures of all of them. He was very curious when she had to take a deep breath before shooting the picture of the next to last photo in the group. 

 

She secured everything back in place, and then moved toward the window, her camera vanishing into the secure pocket for it in the side of her costume. Batman swept the place one last time with his eyes before following her out and back into the city.

`~`~`~`~`

Canary next wanted to go to the banker's house, and something in her eyes told Batman to follow her hunch. He suspected that what was in the photos, that this entire case was personal before she got shot. They arrived at the upscale house, set back in the less crowded area of Gotham's suburbs, and coasted in darkness to a stop. She was out of the car before him, causing him to move quickly to keep up with her. 

Both noted the presence of vehicles that did not quite fit the upscale appearances, and recognized that there were far too lights on in the house for the hour of night and the fact the banker should have arrived from the charity dinner by now. The woman did not even hesitate to assign him the upper balcony as she headed for the kitchen.

"O," he said softly, catching a smell in the air he knew too well. "Route a patrol car to current address, with back up." That smell was fear, and it was pervasive enough to make him take precautions with a filter, incase it was being induced artificially. "Tell her to mask up."

"She's not one of us, B. That's not her style," Oracle replied back. "Bio read shows her normal for activity, though."

"You need to train her better for our threats," he growled, praying in his mind that Crane was not involved. 

"You try teaching that old dog new habits," Oracle said, with affection. She was resigned to Canary's blatant disregard for her own safety, having decided the woman must have a death wish. "Patrol en route. You have five minutes 17 seconds."

Batman moved quickly, professionally following the signs until he could hear the voices in the house. There they were, in the parlor, the banker with his wife and young son, surrounded by men with guns, but no Tilkin. Worse, Batman could no longer tell just where in the house Canary was, as the sole lamp on in this room gave him no indication of her hiding spot.

His body tensed as the lead triggerman raised his gun on the banker. The wife screamed, and another man trained his gun on her, while a third was moving to jerk the child out of her grasp. He was already throwing the batarang when the Canary Cry blasted into the room from the other door.

The mass chaos that ensued was replayed in his mind later. She had aimed in such a way with her power to not affect this aim, but still thrown the gun weilders around his target to one side. She ran in behind her Cry, much as he followed through on his throw, and let him take care of the immediate fighting as she ushered the hostages out of the room, protecting them with her slight frame, especially the child. Only once they were out of harm's way did she join the fray.

When the police arrived, they found all five gun men sitting in the parlor, bound hand and foot. Of the Man sized Bat and his Fury, there was no sign, despite the witness's accounts of the events.

`~`~`~`~`

Dinah glanced around the Cave with admiration, trying to ignore the cold numbness of her arm, the throbbing in her shoulder, and the fact Batman was glaring at her.

"You've upgraded since I was here last," she said, finally turning to him. She walked over to where he waited in the small infirmary area, setting herself on the table. 

"You know more than you're telling me about this case." His words were harshly accusatory. She glanced down, biting her lip. "Canary, I cannot help you solve this case if you hold back."

"Give me the dressings," she said in a soft tone, reaching out for them, unable to meet his eyes. He held them back, pausing to remove his gauntlet and his breastplate. It had stopped a round, but the impact point was sore enough to warrant removing the heavy thing. As he stepped back to tend to her wound, she lightly ran a finger just above the vivid bruise already coming up. "This was the case that made Momma want me to never touch this life," she began in a distant tone, her eyes staying on the mark that stood for his support of her in the fight.

"Your father left the force after it." He spoke just to let her know he was listening.

"Because he failed. Because Momma got hurt and because he disgraced his badge rather than lose her," Dinah whispered. "He was the man on the scene, the night the Van Allens were found, their daughter stolen and them left in their own blood." She shuddered at the image. "He pursued the case with a vengeance, because their little girl…she was my age.   
I think that really hit him hard."

"Hmm." Batman kept his focus on her words, even as he cleaned the freshly torn injury.

"Batman…Dad solved the case."

That made him look at her sharply, because it did not make sense.

"He solved it, I think, but had to let the perp go, and his accomplices. Because he couldn't lose Momma. And they had her." Canary's eyes watered as she drew in a ragged gasp of air. "I wasn't supposed to be an only child either." She rubbed her gloved hand across her eyes as Batman considered that.

"She was held captive, pregnant, and lost the baby due to trauma of some kind?" he managed to ask, thinking about choices he had made, choices he knew had been made by others. He considered what he might do if Dick or Tim were in that circumstance…did remember painfully what it had been like with Jason.

"Her price of freedom was letting the kidnapper and his three stooges go." Dinah's voice was dark, angry even. "Only two of them robbed a liquor store and Gotham PD being what it was…."

"They returned your mother after exacting a price," he said grimly. "For the two who died."

"Tilkin was the stooge. I still don't know who the boss was, because Dad never wrote it down." She removed her camera and handed it to him. "Hopefully these or a visit back to the banker will help us figure that part out."

He took the camera, and then started to move away before she placed her hand on his chest again.

"Thank you." Her blue eyes were sincere. "Tonight never could have happened without you. And I never would have been able to get this close to finally solving this."

"We still have to get the evidence," he told her. "And find the boss."

"Tilkin will sing." The intensity of her voice was enough to make him hesitate from leaving her. She saw it, and managed a small smile before impishly ducking in to kiss his cheek. He smirked; it was not the first time a female teammate had done that to distract him from glaring balefully. "Don't worry, Bats; I know the line." She slipped down off the medical bed, flexing her arm against his bandaging skill. She was just woozy enough to misjudge the distance, and the unperturbed Bat caught her.

"Rest here, Canary. You can't leave as light headed as you are." He placed her back on the bed, and then turned to get a blanket for her.

"Arrow was wrong about you, ya know?" She watched him as he found the blanket and covered her with it. "Course, Arrow was wrong a lot, but that's not here or there; he can't speak for himself anymore." The massive sigh she loosed reminded Batman that she had lived the fairy tale that cracked in half. "But you do have a heart." Her eyes closed wearily, as she decided it just was not worth arguing over where she slept tonight.

`~`~`~`~`

"Your guest left while you were at the office, sir," Alfred told Bruce. "I do believe she slept a grand total of five hours in that drafty cave."

"I was not going to let her leave, and I knew she would not wander," Bruce rumbled. "I couldn't very well bring her upstairs."

"Trustworthy enough to leave untended in the cave, but not to know the identity of the man behind the cowl." Alfred seemed to be questioning his logic, and it hit Bruce in the pit of his stomach. He knew just what Black Canary was capable of, how she jumped through hoops for two teams and Oracle personally. She was, and had been for so long, a very worthy ally.

"She's not one of the family," Bruce growled.

"But teaching Master Tim's interest. And, from what I understand, sacrificing herself on a regular basis for Miss Gordon." Alfred let the subject drop then, knowing he had made his point, that Bruce would think a long time on having a costumed hero at hand who did not know the truth.

Bruce grunted before he realized Alfred had let the matter drop, but availed himself of the coffee and paper his father figure left him. As usual a page was marked to show him Bruce Wayne and the enigmatic Laurel Drake. He was not too surprised by the background the press had found on Laurel; he smelled Barbara's work behind that. What he did notice was someone in the background of the picture, someone staring very intently at Bruce Wayne's date. And Bruce was positive the man had gone past Tilkin just after Dinah had excused herself.

His paranoia picked up into high gear, as he debated the likelihood of Canary's identity being breached, when he had barely recognized her under the red hair. It was too strong a feeling to ignore, and he was heading for the Cave before he even sipped his coffee.

`~`~`~`~`

"She already went by the banker," Oracle told Batman as she tried to pinpoint her operative's location. "I think she went back by Tilkin's too." The man was not acknowledging her, which was very bad. She just did not know how to explain to him that Canary was a force of nature, and if Canary did not want to be found, Oracle was powerless. The woman was too tech-phobic to get more than the receiver and transmitter on her, and she knew how to turn both off. "B, I can't help if you don't tell me why you think she's missing, not on a tangent…."

"A man in the photos last night, a man I know used to work closely with the Maroni mob, appeared to recognize her."

"The Maroni… they were into kidnapping at the right time…" Oracle's quick thinking had her tracing other searches quickly. "Still doesn’t tell us who bought the hit on Van Allen, and who would care to keep it buried now."

"Bring up a list of all notable families who had children within three months of the Van Allen child's age," he told her. "Only a socialite of my parents' class could have afforded it."

"On it."

`~`~`~`~`

Black Canary slowly roused, aware her arm was sticky with blood from the gun shot wound, and she could feel her hair was matted, likely from a cut to go with that aching, throbbing knot on the back of her head. Her throat felt constricted, and it took her a minute to recognize the raw burn of rope laying across it, running down to her hands, her feet. It would make struggling hard, as the rope threatened her air, and it made the Cry damn near impossible. She was not surprised to see Tilkin there, looking just as mean as she expected of a man who had beaten a pregnant, bound woman. Her jaw clenched in defiance. The son of a bitch had even taken snap shots of the way her mama had looked afterward.

She looked away from him, to see the standard mafia goons she had expected. Tilkin's ties had turned up, when she had pressed her street contacts, people she had not had to approach in years. She supposed one of them had forgotten the fury of her fists and given her up to this man, or to one of his allies. It suited her just fine, as she tried to work her hands free; she figured she could find out who was behind it all better at the source.

"Dinah Lance, or Black Canary…which is it, Legs? Maybe Laurel Drake…yeah, you're too classy when you try to dress less like a slut, but those legs give you away," Tilkin said.

"You're going to be calling me your confessor pretty quick." Old panic flared when she realized he had tied her arms too well for that wounded shoulder. Flashes of being helpless, of the blades cutting…. She pushed it away, called on all her bravado to fight the fear and sick weakness.

"Tough words from a not so tough chick." Tilkin got down in front of her face, leering. "Your mama…she thought she was tough too." He laughed as her blue eyes flared with hate. 

"Tilkin, you're going to hurt, very soon," she said, before spitting in his face. When her head stopped ringing from the blow he landed, she would have to rethink her mind's reaction to overcoming her fear of being helpless; pissing the bad guys off was not always the best option.

"The only reason you're not dead yet, is so the boss can figure out why you got started back on his case." Tilkin scoffed. "Me, I'd rather just take my time carving you up, piece by piece, like I should have done to your ma." For emphasis, he flashed a shiny knife. The waves of panic, of feeling helpless crashed down again, and it was Seattle all over again.

`~`~`~`~`

"B, the mafia hoods…they're skittish," Robin came over the link. "Lots of activity out by the Hudson Wharf."

"Steer clear, R. I'll handle it." He had no wish to put Tim up against the profile he had built. "Take my route for the night, and call in BG for back up."

"Will do. R, out." 

"O, be ready to send in the police," Batman said, having turned the Batmobile on a dime to go to the harbor.

"Bring her home to me," Oracle whispered. "And watch out, she doesn't like it implied she can't handle a situation," she warned him.

"How I already know that," Batman said. In the days of the League, with Lord's backing, only J'onn had been allowed to 'rescue' the fiery woman without her immediately getting angry at the insult to her ability. The man in the cowl smiled to himself; she knew so many people, but only with her original team had she ever let the bravado fall and be human, it seemed.

"Just a friendly warning from your neighborhood hacker."

`~`~`~`~`

Dinah had not screamed at the first cut, or even the second. She fought both her memories and her pain, trying hard to see the shadowed man who had entered and ordered her interrogation. Tilkin was a pro; he knew how to cut to make the most pain with the least true injury. She had no doubt he was building up to the more macabre parts of the torture, and was determined to not tell them anything.

She could feel the point of the knife pressing in, just under her jaw, pricking the skin painfully and drawing a drop of blood. The blade then moved lower, tracing a line that would have bled out in less than five minutes, had it pressed in. She wanted to scream then, but she kept her jaw locked, fighting the urge by leaning her head forward, forcing herself against the rope on her throat to cut back the oxygen flow.

"No you don't, Legs." Tilkin offhandedly slapped her, the heavy ring on his finger drawing a trickle of blood to her lips. "You don't get to pass out until I say so, doxey."

"Get on with it, Tilkin. We must know if she has anyone else working this case!" the shadowed man ordered.

"I've got it, bo…" The sound of shattering glass and wood covered everything else, as an upper venting window gave way to the entry of the menacing, cowled figure all Gotham knew, and most feared.

"Key target, four o'clock!" Dinah rasped out, heading off his attempt to immediately rescue her, in hopes of having this case solved. Tilkin reacted with an angry sneer, lunging with the knife for her. The petite blonde tensed her body and pushed with the attempted blow, carrying her and her attacker over. The chair did not break, and she felt a tear in her costume and skin from his knife, but there was slack in the rope around her throat. 

Batman responded to Dinah's warning by whirling, letting an initial visual perception and her words guide his throw. The batarang, of the blunted variety, made impact in soft flesh, the back of a knee by the sound of the person stumbling. The vigilante gave quick pursuit, landing and finding his capture an easy one. Then he got to worry about the mafia hoods that had been very slow to react and organize. 

The blanking out of all sound, followed by a dull ringing felt even behind his ear protection precluded much more need to fight. The range of the Cry began in Dinah's speaking voice, but ranged up into the ultrasonic, a fact that made it one of the more devastatingly non-lethal powers a Leaguer could possess. Right now, Batman was on the verge of re-assessing the power and moving it to the 'wish-it-killed-you' category, as the hoods fell in agony, clutching their ears.

Then he saw Tilkin, and realized it needed to be moved to the 'near-lethal' range instead. He knew the man was still breathing, his heart beating steadily, from the blood that trickled out of his nose and the rise and fall of the man's chest. However, even though Dinah had possessed the presence of mind to focus on their mission for Batman, she had not been able to fully keep what she had experienced out of her voice when Tilkin had tried again to stab her. The henchman would be a long time recovering, and likely be deaf, from catching a full Cry at point blank range.

Batman secured the hoods, then moved to Dinah's side, slowly. She had a glassy look to her eye as she stared at Tilkin, barely noticing Batman. The Caped Crusader drew a small blade, and carefully cut her bonds, focusing his efforts on the ropes where they did not touch her body. Only as the bonds fell from her hands did she realize he was there, and she turned to look at him.

"Canary?" he asked softly, before having to brace and catch her as she launched into his arms, holding on. 

"Tell me we caught them all, tell me it ends now, that the Pee Dee get it now," she whispered, her body as tight as a grapple line on full extension. He could smell her fear, taste the tang of her blood on the air, and hear her desperation. 

"We did. I think the culprit will have a story to tell them when he comes to." He stood, trying to keep her steady as he did. She managed to get to her feet, and then swayed.

"Oh…" Batman barely managed to catch her, as she passed out. He gave her a once over, finding the hole in her costume, and the one in her. It was no simple tear, and Batman realized she was in danger still.

"Oracle, nearest ambulance?" he snapped.

"Your car would be faster," she supplied. "Bad fire in the East End has the full force out. Who needs it? And the boys in blue are less than a minute away."

"Black Canary. Knife wound, below left ribs." He was already moving. "Leslie's with the fire victims?"

"You'll have to take her to the emergency room yourself, or trust in Alfred." She kept her voice level and businesslike.

"On my way."

`~`~`~`~`

Dinah's eyes fluttered open to find herself back in the BatCave. A hand cautiously moving over her stomach revealed bandages, the tight pull of stitches, and bare skin around it. A cautious exploration revealed the costume had been cut away from her wound, professionally. She went to sit up, gingerly, and a hand came out of the darkness to hold her shoulder.

"No." Batman came into view, his jaw set. "You need to lay still, and you need sleep. Do not make me use a sedative to reinforce that."

"Did we…"

"The man in the shadows was Eugene Keene, owner of Keene Realty. And yes…the land magnate was behind it all, a fact that is now in the police's hands." He looked into her eyes, to see a trace of satisfaction replace the lingering discord of her situation earlier. "I'm not going anywhere, Canary." His voice dropped to a gentler, friendly tone. "You are perfectly safe, now."

"Could just have dropped me at Oracle's," she murmured, turning to look up at him with sleepy eyes. "Or have her send that hunk of hers to fetch me."

"You do realize he's your Arsenal's age?" Batman had to clamp down hard on the bitter gall he felt that Canary had noticed his ward in that manner…for reasons that had nothing to do with age differences. 

"A little younger, if I remember right," Dinah said groggily. "But then I always was closer to him in age than Oliver." She closed her eyes, missing the fleeting look of anger that tensed Batman's jaw. The Dark Knight was none too pleased to be reminded of her past relationship, one he had viewed as heavily one-sided and bordering on emotionally cruel at times. But then, Bruce Wayne had known Oliver Queen outside the mask. 

He could tell she had slipped back to sleep almost immediately. He reached out, using a single finger to push her hair back from her face. The woman he had watched over the few nights of working together had come a long way since those days of being in Green Arrow's shadow.

`~`~`~`~`

"Sir, if I may be so bold…"Alfred began his lecture mode as he brought provisions down. He had performed the field surgery to stitch Dinah's stab wound, relieved to find it modest, and watched Bruce pace in a rare show of agitation.

"Don't, Alfred," Bruce began… no even though he had pushed the cowl back, it was still Batman worrying at the edges of the man's sanity.

"I will anyhow, Master Bruce." Alfred was not going to be swayed from what he saw as needed encouragement. "You've brought her here, twice now, just this case alone. Not to mention years past, when she has crossed your path," Alfred pointed out. "When will you admit that in her, most of your objections to making a relationship founder on the rocks of logic?"

"Save the most important, Alfred. She's a colleague," the younger man growled. "It never works, and she'll never stay apart from the League anyway, which makes her a constant, potential teammate."

"So, Master Bruce, is every woman in the world capable of keeping up with you on any intellectual or physical level, to include the likes of Talia al' Ghul, Selina Kyle, and Princess Diana." Alfred glanced once over at the woman lying still and pale on the infirmary bed. "But then, such a woman as the redoubtable Miss Lance is probably more than a match for any charms you could bring to bear, were you to attempt to court her." And with that, before Bruce could bluster through a retort, he turned and left for the manor above.

`~`~`~`~`

The man had brooded for a small time, then pulled his cowl on and responded to a call for assistance by Robin. Said protégé had looked askew at him, when the fight ended in just a few very vicious strikes and well-thrown batarangs. Robin had agreed to go on home, as the next day was a school day, letting Batman return to the cave in record time.

As he parked the car, and its noise died away, he caught the barest hint of a whimpering cry. The man identified it as coming from the infirmary and was clearing the distance on instinct alone before he realized the cry was not in reaction to an external threat. He shifted to the shadowed edges of the infirmary, watching as the small vigilante twisted and coiled into a near fetal position, her face showing the trauma of her nightmares. 

All the fear, the tightly held control over her reactions through the case came back to the forefront of Batman's thoughts, seeing the woman haunted by some invisible foe. He started to ask Oracle, started to learn what triggers had been pushed so strongly that Dinah was losing a war with fear. He had seen her beaten and held captive by Cobra with less loss of confidence than this.

He also knew that had been before she went away, to Seattle, with Oliver Queen.

"NO!" The harsh cry of fear and protest made him move, made him go and rest his gauntlet-clad hand against her face. Before he could even say a word, her eyes snapped open, focusing not on his hand or face, but on his chest. He doubted she was truly processing anything on a rational level as she flung herself up from the bed and into his arms, her hand splaying across the Bat with fervent need to know it was real. He caught her, holding her with care and hoping she had not injured herself again.

"Easy, Dinah…easy," he rumbled, trying to contain the emotions she was triggering, the way her fixation on his symbol made him feel possessive of her, or the fact that her trembling, shuddering body in his arms was drawing at the man under the armor.

"Don't let me fall back there," she whispered. "Please…" He registered her move, almost avoided it, but the man betrayed his reflexes, and her lips found his with passion and need. The way she still shook, the way she smelled of both fear and desire assaulted his senses, making the detective struggle to put it all together. 

//She was brutalized, out there in Seattle. Ollie failed her.// All the reactions to seeing her mother helpless in the pictures, to being bound, the uncontrolled reaction to Tilkin attacking her all made sense if he made that deduction. And, from her desperate need to hold onto him, the way she was fighting her nightmares with an attempt to be with him, it had left her man shy.

"Dinah," he managed, when she let him breathe again, though the taste of her lips lingered. 

"No! Shh, please!" She pressed herself more into his arms. "Don't let go…I can't go back to that, can't let the nightmares take over." Batman almost staggered. How many times had he fought vicious nightmares? How many times had he wished, deep in his soul that someone could have been there to hold him, to help him rise up out of the fear? He let himself step back to the bedside chair, sitting so that she was still in his arms, his mouth finding hers of his own free will. She would not lose the fight, he vowed, not on his watch. 

Her deep moan and shift, to where she was straddling his thighs in the chair did remind him that there were so many layers of secrecy between them. She had been his friend for years, his ally and even his teammate. He knew everything about her life in Gotham, knew her name, and knew whom she worked for now. And she knew nothing of him outside the cowl.

"Dinah," he began, pulling back from the kiss. "I can't…" He started to tell her he could not do this, could not use her fear as a catalyst for finally consummating a desire begun years before on a satellite, when the world had been so close to ending for them, and he had held her sweet body for the first time ever.

"Batman, please…" Her blue eyes were still haunted, still showing the evidence of what had been done to her. "Don't let him take this away again…remind me what it is to enjoy a man." His hands clenched tightly on her hips, hearing that need, that fear that could only have come from…//Dinah, broken by a man…Oliver Queen, may you rot in hell//… He stunned himself at the savage thrust of that thought.

Before the full weight of that thought had died, he was releasing the armor, guiding her hands over the catches, and shifting them both to remove it. When his hands came up, to push the cowl off, wanting to do this in honesty, her hands caught his wrists, and she shook her head.

"No…I can't take your name from you," she whispered, other feelings mixing with the desire, the fear of giving herself back to a weaker time. "I'm sorry…" She started to pull back, but he caught her, kissing her throat and caressing her back.

"Why? We've been…"

"They all left me, once I knew their names," she whispered, and he nearly crushed her in his need to ease that pain in her voice.

"I won't." His kisses started gently, along her neck, as he pushed the remnant of her costume off. It was enough to remind Dinah of what they had begun, to fuel her ardor as she fought her demons in her head. The feel of Batman's hard body, his hungry kisses, and the complete satisfaction of taking her deep inside herself were working overtime to blot out images of the Seattle Slasher. The phantom cuts on her skin faded under the caresses; the fear of being helpless was replaced by knowing Batman was letting her stay on top, as she rocked against him in the chair. His strength, the completely gentle touches of his bare hands on her body, and the way he whispered her name when he came took her fully over the edge, leaving her to shudder and collapse against his chest. 

`~`~`~`~`

They both had dozed lightly in the chair, neither one wanting to separate or end the idyllic moment of their union. However, the noise of Oracle sending an alert to the Bat Computer brought them both up. Dinah did not seem shy about what they had done, but accepted his heavy cape to protect her skin from the chill. He slid into his pants, leading her across the way to open the channel. She stood at his side, just behind him, her nude form cloaked in the black cape as testimony to the fact he had taken her under his protection.

When the alert clarified in the form of shadowy news images and reports from Star City, Batman wondered just how long it would take his new lover to reject him.

It seemed Oliver Queen was alive.

`~`~`~`~`

Dinah was back in her apartment; Batman had acquiesced to her need to go home with silence. She still felt a flush of shame for seducing him, for throwing herself at him in fear…but she knew that shame had not begun until the news showed a hooded, half-hidden Ollie in Star City. At least, a man who might have been Ollie.

She reached out, picking up the phone, trying not to stare down at the Bat Symbol tee shirt she was wearing, trying not to feel the pleasant soreness that had come with what Batman…

She clamped off those thoughts; she had taken advantage of the man, let her demons ride her into practically raping him. 

The number she punched was one that should not be dialed this late at night; she did worry Lian would be asleep. But she needed Roy, needed to know if he had seen those disturbing news reports.

//huh, wha? phone?// the redhead leaned for it before he even had his eyes open, forcing himself awake, "Yo? Harper here.."

The soft sound of Dinah's voice came over the line. "Roy? It's me. Did you see the news tonight?"

"Dinah? Hey..." he fought a little harder for coherence, sitting up, trying to listen to the tone of her voice, knowing something was wrong. "News? No, I was out."

"Oh." Now she was at a loss; she did not want to blurt it out, did not want to get his hopes up when she was still so lost and confused. "There was a news report from Star City tonight."

"Di, what aren't you telling me? What's going on? You don't sound good..." He slid out of the bed, heading for his computer, wincing at the harsh light of the monitor. Worst came to worst, he could find out this way.

"They…they said there have been reports there, for almost a year," Dinah whispered, even as Roy was seeing an alert in his news filter. "But someone caught it on camera…caught him." She sounded like she was in shock, Roy realized, a very deep one.

"Caught who, Dinah?" That tone, that shock... He clicked it open, and the sound of his shock rippled down the phone line as he stared at a still photograph. "Oh, my gods."

"Ollie." She sobbed around his name, and he got a nasty suspicion that more had been happening in her life than she was letting on. "What if it is him? What if this isn't just a hoax…Superman came back…"

"...Superman's not human. I... god, Di, I don't... where are you, Gotham? I'll be down there in two hours, all right?" With as bad as she sounded, he was going. Star City might be the next place on their list, but first things first.

"No, Roy; you stay with Lian. I can make it to Star City." She tried to control the pain in her voice as she said that. "I should probably try to reach Eddie, get him to let Connor know…although…maybe it would be best to find out first."

"Dinah, no. You're not going on your own." Redhead stubborn streak in full-blown protective mode. "You're right about Eddie and Connor, but I'm going with you. Ron's here, he can take care of Lian."

"It could be nothing; look at the times he was mistaken for The Warlord, and even Deathstroke… Mistaken identity happens." She sounded far from convinced, though she also sounded quite torn between wanting it to be real and unable to believe it.

"And what if it's not, Dinah? I'm coming, that's all there is to it, you can yell at me later. Don't leave without me, I'd hate to have to call Kyle and get him to drop me off..."

Dinah normally would have argued, invoked what little authority she had ever managed to hold with him. "I'll be here, at my place. You have a key, in case I don't hear you."

Generally, when Roy put his foot down, Dinah kicked his legs out from under him... this bothered him. "All right, Dinah. Be there ASAP." He listened for her response, hung up, threw three days worth of clothes and a costume into a suitcase along with crossbow and quiver, slid into clothing as fast as he could and went to wake Ron, tell him that something had come up, he was leaving, and to keep Lian away from the news.

`~`~`~`~`

Oracle frowned at the conversation, at least Dinah's half of it, and opened the line to Batman.

"Busy," he growled, and she distinctly heard the snap-click of pre-checks on the Bat Plane.

"Tell me you are not flying to Star City," she demanded. "Dammit, Bruce!" She was unsure what was going on, why Dinah had seemed so violently shell shocked when Batman had dropped her off at her apartment. 

"Oliver Queen is a figure that could wreak considerable harm on the League's reputation; I have to debunk this mistaken identity personally." 

"And this has nothing to do with why my best damned operative is laying in her bed, curled around a pillow, crying her eyeballs out?!" Oracle demanded.

Batman was glad he did not have visual on as her words jerked at him, made him feel the sting of Dinah's words after the news clip had played.

("I need to go home.")

("I don't think that is best; you're still hurt, you need someone.") He remembered reaching out, to touch her, seeing her face close in on itself as she stepped away.

("This was a mistake.") She turned and walked away, his cape still trailing her, as she went to dress. 

"The man lived with her long enough to have been her common law husband," he said gruffly. He heard it, heard Oracle's catch of breath as she heard it too…the sound of jealousy.

"Bruce, if she said or did anything…just remember she's a first gut reaction kind of person," Oracle said softly. There was a long pause. "She's wearing your tee shirt. I've never seen her wear a Batman shirt."

He tensed slightly at hearing that, remembering the sight of her in his cape, thinking about what she would look like with his symbol over her chest--("This was a mistake,") echoed through his mind again... but this time, he heard not only the dismissal, but the guilt in her words, and considered why... "Was there anything else, Oracle?" layers and layers of distance. 

"Harper's joining her…I think they are going to go," Oracle supplied, her voice falling back into professional mode at his distancing. "You'll have a head start, but they know that dive of a town a lot better than you." She put just a hint of urging that he consider working with the pair, instead of separately.

"Understood." He considered having her foul up their ability to get mass transit, but would not put it past the pair to request hero assistance. Instead, he closed her line from his end, and tried to ignore the fist he clenched as he thought of the way her hand had touched his symbol, the way he had made her feel safe…until the damned news snapped her back into Queen's arms in all but the literal sense.

`~`~`~`~`

Roy found the apartment was still dark, a sole lamp waiting for him. He frowned; as torn up as Dinah had sounded, he had expected her to be waiting at the lobby door, almost. He moved down the hall to her room, and saw she had fallen asleep, and not into a good one either. 

He knew better than to touch her... and his eyes blazed hot with fury as he saw the wounds on her throat, her wrists. //Not again, not again, oh Dinah gods, not again...// He crossed to the bed, cat quiet, and sat down on the floor, looking up at her. "Dinah. Di, come away, come back," he called to her, trying to pull her out of her restless sleep. 

She startled awake, even at his voice, and there was just enough light to show the flash of fear in her eyes, before recognition set in. She sat up slowly, drawing her knees to one side of her as she winced, one hand going to the wound in her side. 

"Sorry; didn't mean to fall asleep." She quickly stood, going to grab more appropriate clothing from her closet. He saw her favoring the side, caught a glimpse of cuts marring her arms well above the rope burn marks.

"Di, it's okay... what happened? No, wait. Let me get out of here to let you change, first, okay?" Seeing her in that shirt made him uneasy--too much meaning for them, in that, it wasn't, could never be, a casual choice for one of them. He stood up slowly, giving her time to register the move, and went to the door, looking at her with worry and love and the black fury he couldn't hide in his eyes.

She watched him go, then set about changing clothes. When she removed the tee shirt, she paused, fingering the symbol lightly. All it meant, all it offered flooded back, a reminder of how willing he had seemed to comfort her, the desire to show her who he was…and she had slapped it all down, taken away its meaning. She drew the shirt to her face, using it to dab at the tears she still felt. What she had done was wrong. She had abused a friend's trust in her, and she had… Her mind shied from the image of a disapproving Ollie; they had not been together when he died!

Roy leaned against the wall, waiting for her, trying to keep a cool head when all he wanted was to get enough facts to go hunting whoever had hurt her--//please, don't let her have been raped again...// The first time had ripped her apart, if it had happened again... a hand clenched hard at his side. He listened with everything he had to the sounds inside--and he was damned glad he'd insisted on coming to her.

She was moving quietly, something he remembered Ollie describing to him, how she had ghosted through life those first few weeks. When she did emerge, she was in her full-length costume, clothed so that only her face showed above the high collar of the armored costume Oracle had designed for her. 

"Ready to go, Boy-o?" She cut him a saucy grin, but it was not in her eyes. In fact, her eyes were very red, very puffy, and her nose had that glow of recent sniffles. "I think I can swing us quick tickets at Gotham Terminal."

He chuckled softly, "We're going to have an interesting ride, you in that and me in civvies... but they probably wouldn't let me on in the suit. Di... how much are you going to fall apart if I touch you?" That costume... yeah, it was gorgeous, and he approved of the extra protection, but that she was wearing it now, to hide herself... anger pulsed hard through his veins.

She bit her lip as he cracked right through her bravado, and then she flowed into his arms, holding on to him with a fervor that was not all the shock of seeing Ollie's face. She had been hurt, taken back to the worst time in her life, and then jerked emotionally…yes, he could figure that out, but her attire when he arrived, the way she was not pushing a plan of action immediately, screamed more.

"It's been a rough few nights," she admitted. "Got in over my head on an old case of Dad's," she told him. 

Once she pressed against him, hard armor against his chest, he wrapped an arm low around her waist, other hand cupped gently around the curve of her skull, holding her close, afraid for her all over again. "Yeah?" he asked, encouraging her to tell him more. The more she told him without his needing to push, the better off they would both be--especially with the way she tended to scream when angry...

"We got him though…finished Dad's case, and Batman got me out okay," she told him. That last part came out so unsure, so questioning, that Roy could guess the Bat was in some way responsible for her mindset, the way she was not coping. "He…he had to rescue me, Roy." She buried her face into his chest. "I was helpless, again."

"Oh, Dinah..." He knew, better than most, how angry she'd gotten, how often, over Ollie's protectiveness, over anyone thinking she was less than capable... And to have it be him... //But she was wearing his shirt, his colors... She accepted?// Confusion flickered through him. "He... he got to you in time, though?" The stammer he hadn't managed to stop and the fear he couldn't keep out of his voice surely told her what he was asking, the confirmation he needed to hear.

"It was just a rope…a few cuts…" She looked up at him, trying to smile. "I'm fine, really…just shook up by everything, and then the news." There, he could feel the half-lie. Something happened between the rescue and the news, something she was not coping with. "Let's get going. No telling who saw the news; the last thing we need is some homeless guy looking like Ollie getting toasted by Vertigo or Tattooed Man."

//Thank you, gods...// Relief flooded through him, but he still frowned at her, hearing that half-truth... But, she sounded better, sounded at least something like his Dinah... He'd get her to talk to him, or to someone, later, about what the hell was going on, what she was hiding. "Yeah. You're right about that. Let's go, Di."

`~`~`~`~`

The only time Batman ever appreciated knowing Gotham as well as he did was when he had to come and navigate some other urban jungle. It had taken far too long to pick up the trail, to piece the movements of the man together. Even he had to suppress a shudder of premonition when the hunt landed him in the same alley Hal had found Roy in, all those years ago.

He saw the vagabond moving back into the hovel, the makeshift bow at his side, and narrowed his eyes behind his lenses. There was no way the Oliver Queen he remembered could be this man, but the face behind the scruffy beard, the skill he had taken the nearby drug dealer down with…all of it blended into a possibility he did not want to consider, not without more facts.

He managed to get within a few feet of the hovel, and then purposefully make noise to draw the man out. The vagabond never saw the gauntleted fist that took him down, making him crash into blackness.

"That was subtle." It was her voice, crackling over the air to his ear with a biting chill. When he looked, he saw her standing at the mouth of the alley, not entering, her redheaded protector at her side. He did not need to see their faces to know they recognized the alley, or to know how angry she was.

"It's for everyone's best interests. I'll get the answers to who he really is."

Roy would have been extremely happy to never be anywhere near this alley again. Same stink, new graffiti, same rusting metal rails... //it had to be here?// They'd arrived just in time to see that fist crash into this unknown's jaw... and it annoyed him that the Bat had beaten them there. But then... he had a faster ride. "How're you planning on doing that?" He couldn't believe he'd just asked that, but with the way Bruce's shoulders looked... it seemed a good question.

Batman ignored the question as he scooped the other man up onto a shoulder.

"I'm going with you." Canary's voice was in the no argument range, also tuning out Roy's concerns.

"No room, Dinah." 

Roy caught the first name call, in costume, and then caught the set of Dinah's jaw.

"He and I can use the teleporters to your cave," she snapped, eyes flaring. "If you think I'm letting you handle this alone…" 

Roy looked back and forth between them, eyes widening... Batman never, and Dinah---he knew that tone, had heard her use it at Ollie a million times, when he pulled something... //Oh. Dear. Gods--I've gotta be wrong. I've gotta be.//

Bruce frowned, holding the vagabond's weight... refusing her would only make things more difficult in the long run. Little as he wanted her to be around this probable imposter, --if anyone could recognize Oliver Queen... It was Dinah Lance. And he had no ground to object to Harper, either. The boy knew, had for years... and would be another resource. The only other person who knew him as well... was gone. "Fine. Allow me the time to return, first." If she took that to mean he did not want her in his Cave without him... that he regretted. He simply wished the time to make preparations before her arrival.

"Fine." Her eyes snapped at him. "Roy, give him a hand? I have to see about getting us both teleport clearance." She walked away from the alley, every step a measure of her control not to scream bloody murder in Batman's direction. She was the one who had a right…

But did she? She had thrown Ollie out, and then steered clear of him through a long spiral of mutual self-destruction. Oracle had saved her, giving her a purpose…and Ollie had died under Superman's watch.

"I've got this," Batman told Roy in no uncertain terms, but his gaze strayed after the blonde just enough to imply Roy should watch over her. The vigilante fired his grapple line, noting Ollie's imposter was very light, possibly malnourished. He did not wait to see what Harper did, did not turn to see Canary again.

//Same Bat, same attitude...// Roy thought at his back and turned to go to Dinah. If the Bat wanted to be a jerk--that was sure as hell nothing new, and he'd rather be with Dinah anyway. "He's really got you steamed, Di, what's up?" once she was off the comm.

"We slept together." Being in Roy's company had restored her balance, let her lock away the fears, and focus forward. Her anger over the Bat-Idiocy fueled her ability to stay focused, let her keep the scared victim locked away. She looked to the sky. "Teleporters are offline currently, but J'onn said he can dispatch a flier for us."

Roy's jaw dropped, audibly. "You what?" //Don't do that again. You sound like a girl.// "You... slept with Bruce. Like... tonight? Oh," and the rest of what he said was Navajo profanity that just didn't translate decently into English, shaking his head.

"Bruce?" Dinah's voice only got that quiet when her anger was at the point where she was in desperate need of a world-class threat to scream at. "Bruce…as in Bruce Wayne, perhaps?" Roy was very thankful there was not a soul in sight of the alley or even the street as they stood there.

"He didn't tell you." Low, savage rage in his voice and eyes. "He--and he didn't tell you, even for him that's low--"

"I didn't want to know," she growled. "But he…I worked with Bruce Wayne on the last case, the one I was working with Batman." She was biting at the ends of her words. She was more than willing to accept anonymous sex with a colleague, but the way he had handled 'helping' her through his other identity smacked of not trusting her to get the job done.

"I don't even want to know. I just don't. I don't wanna think about it. I don't wanna think about how you wound up---never mind. I am gonna shut the fuck up and not even try and understand this."

Dinah realized how her mood was affecting Roy, and caved in from anger to pleading. "Roy, I still love Ollie…I never won't love him." She slid into his space again, trying to be held again. "Felt like Seattle all over again, my Roy…and he was there, someone I thought I trusted, someone I respected…and someone willing to give me security." 

Roy pulled her tight into his arms, stroking her hair. "Ah, Di... that's not what I'm pissed about, I never blamed you for leaving Ollie..." If she'd thought he would calm down with those last words, though, she didn't understand him at all. If that damned sonuvabitch cared about her, he wouldn't've--"Di... be straight with me. You said you didn't want to know. Did he try to tell you?" There were levels, and levels, of stress and protective rage in his voice that he just couldn't stop.

Dinah sighed softly. "Roy, honey…do you know what's happened to every man I got involved with, or was very close to that I knew who they were? Of my generation?" She shook her head. "Yes, he tried, and I stopped him."

That... actually got through the serious bout of redheaded temper brewing. "Oh. Okay. That... I get where you're coming from... Sorry to let the cat out of the bag, Di. I just... honesty might be too much to expect out of any of that family, but I expected that much..." 

She laid her hand along his jaw, resting against his chest. "Felt like I was betraying Ollie, because I did want that, until I saw the news…god, Roy…"

Roy just held her, shaking his head slightly, stroking her hair. "Why, Dinah? I mean, I don't understand why you'd feel like that. You and Ollie weren't, and he's--he was?--gone, there's no reason..."

He caught her eyes, saw the guilt there hiding in them, shadows he had seen before at the memorial for Ollie, when everyone had acceded to them the role of grieving widow and firstborn son.

"I never stopped loving him, Roy…and I knew what he was doing." She had never admitted this to him. "I knew from Eddie, just how badly Ollie was carrying a death wish…and I would not go to him. I told myself he'd shake it off, that he would be stronger than that." She pulled away from him, eyes looking out over the skyline. "And then his other son shows up on my doorstep to tell me he was gone."

"I wasn't there either, Di. He made his choices, we made ours--and don't you dare feel guilty about moving on with your life, just because some cosmic force may or may not have decided to fuck with our lives again."

"Doesn't mean a thing to my heart, Roy." She took a deep breath. "I can't think where he is concerned...it's all gut reaction, but I'd be lying if I said what Batman did meant nothing, that I…" She cut herself off, not wanting to admit just what Batman had stirred in her, what she had felt both in his cave and in the past, alone with him.

Roy kissed her hair gently. "So I'll keep telling you til it does. I've noticed that, once or twice--and Dinah. I'm the one with Ollie's bad habit." Sleeping around, not cheating, but she'd know what he meant. "You're not, never have been. 'Course it meant something--and our ride's inbound." 

"You, my Roy, are a cut from Ollie's cloth sometimes…and then sometimes, you're wiser than all of us," Dinah managed, glad that her desperate boy-crazy hunts had never made the rumor mill to Roy's ears.

`~`~`~`~`

It was pushing dawn by the time Power Girl dropped Roy off in the 'Haven, near enough that he could walk to Dick's. He trotted that way, got into his building, and went up the stairs, fishing for his key to Dick's place. He let himself in--and knew he'd just awakened his best friend, Dick slept like a damned cat.

"Roy?" The man in question made it to the doorway, looking very sleepy, hair tussled, only his underwear on, and sporting a number of bruises. "Do you know what time it is? Or how little time it's been since I got to bed?"

"Yes to the first, no to the second---and you know, "stepbrother" is so not something I thought I'd ever be calling you..." That ought to wake him up... and damn, but he looked good. 

"Huh... what... Roy, you been out drinking at that meta club again?" Dick dropped on the couch wearily, waving at Roy to come over too. 

Roy snorted, "Don't I wish." He walked over and dropped down beside him, twisting to face him. "Did y'hear me, or are you still asleep?"

"Roy, it's an impossibility for you to be my stepbrother, unless Bruce is adopting you, and don't you think you're a bit old for that?" Dick teased, voice sarcastic from lack of sleep.

//Ado--not a chance in hell.// "Not if he's sleeping with the only mom I've ever had, Dick."

Dick rubbed a hand over his face, trying to clear the sleepiness. "Roy, that's not possible... Bruce doesn't sleep with League members."

"Her lips to my ears to yours, man--and this'll really blow your damned mind. Not Bruce, the Bat." 

The brunette snorted then. "Now I know you're having one of your Navajo waking dreams, Roy... The Bat sleeps with no one... except maybe Catwoman, and we can't prove that."

Roy couldn't help but laugh, rather bitterly. "Apparently he does when Black Canary doesn't let him take the mask off, Dick." He wasn’t really all that happy about the fact, either. 

The other man shook his head. "Maybe she was teasing you, trying to throw you off when she's really dating... Jason Bard or some other nobody."

"Oh, no, not with the fucked up tension between the two of them, and that she was damned near crying. She was dead serious." 

Dick ran a hand through his hair now, not knowing what to make of this. "Stepbrother, huh?" He gave Roy a leer that told him that was no deterrent to their regular activities, rather than think of the Bat screwing Dinah Lance.

"If they stick together through this latest piece of fuckedupness to hit the hero world, it looks kind of like it--especially since I, bigmouth that I am, went ‘you slept with Bruce’ at her..." sheepish look. He really, really didn't want to think about that either.

"So she had no clue Batman was Bruce, and you let that slip, and what fuckedupness?" Dick demanded, coming slowly alert to the nuances of stress in Roy's body.

"I've been over to Star City and back tonight, back via Power Girl and don't even say it," eyes sparking, "because someone that may or may not be Ollie was out there. Now he's in the Cave--but no WAY was I gonna stick around for the Bat to kill me, or watch him with Di!"

Dick brought both hands up now, rubbing at his forehead. "Roy that makes no sense; Ollie was vaporized, so it has to be an imposter." He reached out, realizing how callous that sounded, trying to seek forgiveness with a squeeze to Roy's shoulder. "And this mess with Dinah and Bruce... assuming it is not some weird sex pollen thing and I just did not get an Ivy alert... it'll blow over. They have nothing in common."

Roy didn't mind the bluntness, not from Dick, and even agreed. "A) tell me about it... but.. Dick it looked so much like him... B ) no sex pollen involved, though I thought pretty damned hard about taking a shot at him over it before she cooled me down... and... I'm not so sure about that..."

Dick shook his head. "I think you need sleep, and I know I do. We can worry about the old folks in the later part of the day," he told Roy.

"What I need is to forget the last few hours, but I guess sleep would do... I just... Bruce and Dinah, holy shit, damn it I don't wanna think about that---and I'm worried about what might be going on in the Cave, if it's Ollie or not..."

"I could call..." Dick began. "Or we could go together," he added. "Or we can go take a tumble into my bed, and let it go for now."

"I vote option three now, and one later..." Roy said with a grin, eying Dick's nearly nude body hungrily.

"Chicken. You just don't want to see Bruce making out with Dinah..." Dick smiled as he teased. "Or, it is Ollie and they're all three having welcome back sex... and oh god, eww..."

Roy's hand snapped out, and the broadside of a pillow slammed hard across Dick's face, on the heel of a truly revolted noise, "UGH! Dick, Damn you, never, ever say that again!" He pulled the pillow back, poised to hit him again. "And hell no I don't want to see tha--the two of them, just, no! I walked in on Ollie and Dinah enough, thanks!"

Dick tackled Roy, grabbing a pillow to thwack him with. "I'm sure they were all accidents too…not!" He laughed as he tried to pin the other man on the couch, causing them to fall on the floor.

Roy oofed and rolled and smacked Dick over the back of the head with the pillow, struggling halfheartedly--Dick couldn't be enjoying laying on the armor--"Oh, like you never stuck around when the Bat and the Cat would get into it?"

Dick shivered... "Saw them once on patrol... and did not stick around to see if the armor came off." He leaped away in a graceful show of his athletic ability. "Come on, I'm tired man... and you're far too dressed."

Roy licked his lips and followed Dick, chuckling as he started stripping out of the armor.

`~`~`~`~`

Karen had carried the Canary to her apartment before departing, carefully not bringing up Canary's volatile emotional state when she clung to Roy on departure. 

Black Canary roared into the cave not ten minutes after the Bat Plane settled, parking her bike on the ledge that both Tim and Dick used, the one Barbara had once used. She moved to the infirmary and watched as Bruce ran various tests, not speaking just yet. 

Batman did spare her a quick glance when she walked all the way around the table, inspecting the man laying their unconscious. That her path took her to his side did nothing to wipe away her words, words that fell heavy now in the silence between them.

"I'm sorry." She was not looking at him, but at the x-rays he was inspecting. 

"No need." He could not help the cold ice of his tone.

"Yes there is…Bruce." Now she did turn, stepping into his space with fluid grace. "What you did, what you shared with me…it was not a mistake. You saved me, in more ways than one."

He stilled, and then turned to look at her, head tilting to the side--then realization struck. "Harper?" Not that it was actually a question. Oracle would not have given her that information. No surprise the boy had not come with her, then. "Dinah..." //I'm glad you don't think so.// He lifted a hand, gloved fingertips sliding lightly along her jaw, then sliding back and down to her shoulder to pull her against his body--if she would come. 

She did, pressing tight to him, her arms going up around his back under the cape, head resting right on the bat symbol. //So easy to forget how small she really is.// 

"I can't ask you to be patient with me, can't ask you to wait and see how this unfolds," she whispered. "But I can tell you that it meant…"

"Someone want to tell me why the hell Bats is making time with my girl?!" the man being examined growled at them.

"Shut up," Batman said over her hair, calmly refusing to release her. The two men, one so possessive, the other so protective tripped Dinah's sense of the ridiculous, and she started to laugh. It was soft, hidden in the arm around her, but she turned within that embrace, her eyes slowly meeting the archer's as the man sat up with the sheet over his waist.

"Ollie, things changed." She pointed up at the x-ray of his wrist. "Like the fact you should have a nasty fracture right here, where I broke your wrist. Or a scar on your chest, where one of the women you cheated on me with shot you with a broad head arrow." At the look of shock on his face, she did, casually, move out of Bruce's arms and approach him. "You died. You were mourned. You left a life behind that had ups and downs, but you were gone!" She touched his chest, over his heart. "Looking at you, knowing you as intimately as I do…you look like the man that got in a pickup truck with Hal Jordan, and went to look for America while your boy was losing a fight with a demon."

"Pretty Bird…it's been ten weeks," he started, reeling from the blunt facts that she was laying out, wanting to wake up and find this all a dream, but the pain in her eyes, the low concern under the blunt words compelled him to listen. "Ten weeks since Hal and me…"

"That was ten years ago, Oliver." She drew back. "Ten years in which Roy had to fight an addiction, we left the League, moved from our home to start over…and lost each other before you died and left us all with ashes and grief."

Bruce stood close behind her, silent offer of his aid if she wanted it, watching Oliver's face, eyes hard behind the cowl.

"Dinah, I can't…I'm not that man." Oliver Queen had heard of strange things, but this was…

"No, Ollie. You're not the man that got lost in other women, or the one that expected me to leave the heavy crime fighting to you, or even the one that fathered an illegitimate child on a Yakuza assassin. And I won't even get into the one that got in to deep with the CIA." She stepped fully back into Bruce's arms, her decision made. "You are a man who left a boy at home alone, one who was parted from the only real friends he had ever had. You're also a man who knowingly abandoned a son." 

Ollie paled at each accusation, every word of what he had gone on to do, but the last caused him to actually turn away, not denying it. "Pretty Bird…you can't…what do I do now?"

Uncaring of Ollie's probable reaction, Bruce wrapped his arms around her, careful of her wound, and made himself a promise never to get himself as far on her bad side as Ollie had put himself. For such a small woman, she had a wicked way with her words. If he believed that Queen had somehow been raised from the dead, with no memories of the last ten years--which seemed likely, given his reactions--she'd just laid his worst sins on a man that had done none of them.

And in her next words, she proved why a man like Ollie would meekly turn his cheek to her, for that. She reached out, not breaking Bruce's embrace, but capturing Ollie's hand.

"Ollie, you can be a very good man. I've just shown you all that happened once. My advice to you now? Go find Connor Hawke, and be his dad. Catch up with Roy…be his friend at the very least. And meet your granddaughter by him, Lian. She'll wrap you around her finger, I promise." She gave him a small smile, her eyes lit with warmth now.

"And what about us? I'm supposed to just accept that this other me did all that and drove you away, not try to get you back and outta his arms?" A trace of belligerence tightened Ollie's jaw.

"I can't forget those years," she whispered. "What they cost us both. I told you everything, so you can see my …need to follow my life here. And hopefully so that you can find a life out there, without me at your side."

Bruce held her, amazed, again, by her strength and resilience... and the power of her compassion. He would stay quiet, for now, and allow this to play out--until Queen did something stupid.

"Then tell me where the hell are my pants, Bats," Ollie growled. He would find a way…Dinah was his, dammit, but he was not stupid enough to piss her off, not here, and not with Batman lurking.

`~`~`~`~`


End file.
